


Tell Me Something

by randomascas



Category: Rise (TV 2018)
Genre: Canon Trans Character, Family Fluff, Fluff, Gen, Platonic Relationships
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-29
Updated: 2018-04-29
Packaged: 2019-04-29 18:44:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 768
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14478861
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/randomascas/pseuds/randomascas
Summary: Michael and Maashous tell each other a lot, even if it’s hard. or, in which michael comes out and maashous is incredibly supportive.





	Tell Me Something

“What did you need to tell me?” Maashous asked. She’d texted him earlier, saying they needed to talk. But, when the time came, he didn’t know if he’d heard her right. She was mumbling, looking away. and her voice was so quiet, so scared.

“I...” A shaky breath. “I’ve always thought that I’m not... that I was born wrong.”

“Wait, maggie, what?”

“I hate that name.”

“What? Why?”

She took a shaky breath. “Maashous, I’m... I'm a boy.”

Maashous’s eyes widened, just slightly. “Oh.”

“Yeah.” And then she- no, he was back to looking straight at his lap.

“So, what should I...”

“Michael.” He looked so small and scared, like he was waiting for brutal rejection. Maashous hated seeing him like that.

So he smiled. Smiled as wide and as reassuringly as he could.

“Michael?” The boy looked up. “I like it. Suits you.”

“You think?”

Maashous quickly nodded. “I think it’s perfect.” It really was.

“Thanks.”

He waited a moment, before quietly asking, “Who else knows?”

There was silence, for a few moments. and then a very weak, “No one.”

“Not even-“

“We aren’t talking.”

“I just thought maybe-“

“No.” They both knew who he was talking about. And a mutual understanding to keep quiet about it passed between them.

*****

“I told my parents.”

Maashous had left his phone in his locker overnight, so it wasn’t until the next morning that he saw this text. From Michael.

He grabbed his books, and bolted for the “H” block of lockers. Why did he leave his stupid phone last night? What if something had gone wrong and put his best fr-   
Then he saw Michael, and it looked like boy was glowing.

“What happened?” Maashous was a bit out of breath. He was a tech crew kid, not a sports bro.

“My mom’s first response was to ask if I’m officially a tenor or not.” He was beaming, and Maashous suddenly felt about seventeen times better.

“So they’re okay with it?”

Michael nodded. “I mean, my aunts kinda whipped them into shape when they got married, so I don’t know why I was scared.” He shrugged. “I guess I just thought… I don’t know what I thought. I was just terrified that they wouldn’t be okay with it, you know?”

“I can imagine, yeah.” The warning bell went off, somewhere down the hell, and Michael started pulling his books from his locker.

“You know,” he looked to Maashous and raised his eyebrows, “you can start coming over to my place on the weekends now. Without my parents freaking out about sex.”

Maashous laughed. It was one of those quiet, soft laughs that’s barely more than a breath, but that’s because it wasn’t funny. He was breathing out, almost, letting go of the worry that had been in the pit of his stomach for the past ten minutes, even the past ten months, in that foster home. “Maybe next weekend, then?”

*****

“Tell me what size.”

Michael glared at him. “Maashous, you need that money.”

“But-“

“No.”

“Fine.”

They were in Michael’s room. Michael was on his bed, arms behind his head. Maashous had his stomach to the floor, and was surfing the web on Michael’s laptop for binders. It had come up in conversation only minutes later earlier, after Maashous heard that Michael’s parents were making him buy his own. Maashous’d offered to buy one.

“Listen, I’ll get a job this summer.”

“The ice cream parlor pays well.”

“We’d both be fired for talking too much.”

Maashous shrugged. “I mean…”

“Maashous, you know I’m right.”

“Yeah, but...”

*****

“Tell me something,” Maashous said to Michael.

“What?” The cast list had only been up for a day and things were already falling apart. They were down six guys, and so Maashous was calling in a huge favor.

“Have you ever considered being in theatre?”

“Huh? Why?”

Maashous slid his copy of the Spring Awakening script across the table. “Moritz.”

Michael opened it skeptically, and start leafing through it. “What about him?”

“You should go out for him.”

He stopped, and looked up. “Maashous.”

“Your voice is incredible.”

“My range isn’t. Not for a guy’s role, at least.”

“You are a guy.”

“You know what I mean.”

“Well, we’ll change the harmonies.”

He hesitated before answering. “I… Will I have to tell him?”

“Is that okay?”

Another hesitation, and Maashous was beginning to regret the whole conversation. He never wanted to force Michael into anything, especially coming out. Just when he was about pull back his offer, Michael started nodding.

“Tell him.”

“Really?”

“Yes. I… Tell him I can do it, okay?”

“Okay.”

**Author's Note:**

> Hey I hope y’all enjoyed this! It was a fun time to write it, even if it was a bit rough going. shout out to corrie (@Cleem123) and lou (@fangodess) for editing this because it was a hot mess before. Also thanks to the rise discord, for the lovely support and sock pictures.


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